The Effect of Education on Fertility: Evidence from a Compulsory Schooling Reform

Kamila Cygan-Rehm and Miriam Mäder

VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: This study analyzes the effect of education on the number of children, childlessness, and the timing of the first birth. We use exogenous variation from a mandatory reform to compulsory schooling in West Germany to deal with the endogeneity of schooling. In contrast to studies for other developed countries, we find a significant negative effect of education on completed fertility. We attribute this finding to the particularly high opportunity costs of child-rearing in Germany.

JEL-codes: I21 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ure
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/62037/1/VfS_2012_pid_145.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of education on fertility: Evidence from a compulsory schooling reform (2013)
Working Paper: The Effect of Education on Fertility: Evidence from a Compulsory Schooling Reform (2012)
Working Paper: The Effect of Education on Fertility: Evidence from a Compulsory Schooling Reform (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc12:62037

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